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The
Kerala Legislative Assembly introduced and passed the Kerala
Professional Colleges (Prohibition of Capitation Fee,
Regulation of Admission, Fixation of Non-Exploitative Fee and other
Measures to ensure Equity and Excellence in Professional Education) Bill,
2006.
The
context of the new legislation was to bring under law the
managements of Self-Financed Educational Institutions that collected
Rs. 35 to 60 lakhs per seat in private medical colleges and Rs 5 to
10 lakhs in Engineering colleges and in Nurses’ Training
Institutes.
The
private managements challenged the new Act alleging that it violated
their minority rights guaranteed by the Constitution. The Christian
hierarchy, many of whom have several self-financed institutions,
impressed their believers and congregations that the new law brought
by the Government had taken away all their Constitutional
protections and that all their schools and colleges would gradually
be lost. The bishops of all Christian denominations issued a joint
circular, which was read to the entire congregation in churches on
25th July 2006.
However,
the independent, erudite, and highly respectable people belonging to
the various Christian denominations have strong objections to what
their church leadership have wrongly and wantonly asserted as
Minority Rights. Hence Jananeethi decided to bring such
distinguished members of the minority communities on a platform to
openly declare that they did not subscribe what had been projected
as ‘minority rights’.
A
special public meeting was organized at Kerala Sahithya Academy
Auditorium, Thrissur on the 10th August 2006 from 4.00 to
8.00 pm. The topic was “Minority Rights: Whom do they belong
to?”
Bishop
Yuhanon Mar Milithios, the metropolitan of Malankara Orthodox
Church, Thrissur inaugurated the function. Other speakers included
Dr.Ninan Kozhy, Dr.Scaria Zacharia, Dr.M.P.Mathai and Professor
Reverend Thomas John.
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